Couldn't get more perfect really...

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I started reading the Lonely Planet guide about Vietnam and Cambodia because I really wanted to go to Vietnam. Somehow along the way the more I found out about Cambodia the more I wanted to spend all 3 weeks I had for holidays here. The choice could not have been more perfect!

The 15 hours it took to get from Melbourne to Siem Reap was well worth it, even the 4 hour layover in KLIA and the slightly dodgy breakfast on the MEL-KLIA leg of the flight. Siem Reap has blown me away in more ways than one.

Firstly, I have to rave about the people at The Villa Siem Reap where I am staying, and where I am currently writing this from. I'd heard that the Khmer people were lovely but I really wasn't expecting how sweet they would be. Considering the horrible history of this country, both distant and recent history that is, it's amazing that the Khmer people are still so gentle, considerate and loving.

I'm in the base room here at The Villa Siem Reap and it's quite frankly lovely. Sure it's not 5 star but I'm not paying a 5 star rate, it's a lot more spacious than I thought it would be and the whole place is very clean and well kept. Free wifi in your room and also cable TV so I'm catching up on my CNN too while staying here. They organise tours for you if you like, and seeing as though I'm travelling alone for the first time, I thought I'd take up their day tours and very glad I did.

Yesterday I was taken out to a small stilted village on the banks of the Tonle Sap (Great Lake). We started away from the water where the houses are made mostly of bamboo and palm leaves, the level of poverty is quite hard to comprehend but it gave a great insight into the 'non-touristy' Cambodia. I'm glad I did this tour firsrt as it showed me a side of Cambodia not a lot of people take up. We walked through this village and the kids all waved to us, they ran around playing together and seemed to really be enjoying themselves. There was a real sense of community in this small village which is something I often think Australia is missing. It reminded me of growing up in country Victoria and playing with the kids on our street, something the kids in the cities miss out on I think.

When we got closer to the lake, the houses were bigger and also higher from the ground. The lake's depth varies in the wet and dry seasons by around 10 metres, so the houses are built on huge stilts to keep them above the wet season water height. It's wet season now but the lake is still very low, so where we started our boat ride was like being on a little river instead of on a great big lake.

The boat took us down what felt like a small river past fisherman working waist deep in the water on their nets before opening up onto the lake proper. The first building you see floating on the lake from where we came from is a big school building. Quite seriously, it's like a boat that's mored by a line to this wooden structure that teaches primary school to the fishermans kids. It was amazing to see.

The boat then took us out to the floating village where around 75 families live. We went past the floating fish markets where fisherman tie their boats together and sell their catches and past other building with machinery running filling bags with something that I wasn't sure of. The strangest thing is to see these floating houses with TV antenna or to see one of the fisherman who live on this big expanse of water (the biggest fresh water lake in SE Asia) on a mobile phone... their way of life didn't really gel with modern technology for me, yet here they were using it.

Our tour guide took us through a Bhuddist temple before we drove back to Siem Reap. It was a remarkable day.

Today was the day that totally astounded me. I was lucky enough to book a group tour that consisted of only me, so I had a personal tour guide for the Angkor Vat (pronounced Wat) and Angkor Tom temple complexes. If you have ever looked at a Catholic church built in the 1800's and marvelled at it's construction, then these two temple complexes will blow your mind!

Angkor Vat was built in the 12th century and is the most well known of the complexes in Cambodia. It's also the best preserved and they continue to slowly do reconstruction work on different parts of the complex. I'd been told by a friend to get a guide if I could for these temples as they teach you a lot about the history of the complex, such as why Angkor Vat which was a Hindu temple when built, has Bhuddist statues throughout it. It's a remarkable story actually.

The other remarkable thing is the amount of carvings that are on the temple buildings. The detail that has gone into it, and the fact that many of the walls are still so in tact after being left to the jungle for so long is amazing. You wouldn't really know that the temples were lost to the world for centuries until the French discovered them when they colonised Cambodia. Nor would you know that some of the buildings were destroyed by the Simese when they invaded.

Angkor Vat stands imposing as you drive up to it behind it's moat, but the real treat was Angkor Tom. The gateway to Angkor Tom has demons on one side and Gods on the other and above the gateway are four faces of Bhudda. Unfortunately over time many of the heads of the Gods and the demons have been stolen or destroyed but you still get an imposing image.

Behind the gate Angkor Tom opens up to not only a religious building but also where the royal family once lived. The main draw for Angkor Tom is the Bayon which looks much older than Angkor Vat but actually is 100 years the junior, however due to it being left to the jungle for longer and also the last building built before the Kings death (so possibly built in a hurry) it has not stood up to time well.

The Bayon used to have 49 towers, unfortunately most of the towers have crumbled or partially crumbled. Many of the Bhuddist statues in the Bayon were removed when it was turned from a Bhuddist temple into a Hindu temple (the opposite of what happened at Angkor Vat). But it is remarkable to wander around and you feel as though you're n an Indiana Jones movie at times in this temple.

Take the time at Angkor Tom to explore the grounds. There's a remarkable back gate behind the 10th century temple that is being reconstructed at the moment (5 storeys of reconstruction! It stands on this amazing foundation and then stretches to the sky). Then you can wander around the back to see the Celestial temple and the royal swimming pools before heading through the royal gateway to the Terrace of Elephants and the Terrace of the Lepar King. The inside wall with all the sculptures of Hell at the Terrace of the Lepar King is beautiful.

My tips for Angkor Vat and Angkor Tom is to make sure you have a big, empty memory card in your digital camera. I took nearly 200 pictures in around 6 hours. The second is to get a tour guide if you can afford it, mine throug The Villa cost me just USD$22.00 and included lunch and transportation. The third tip is to pack lots of water, especially at this time of ear as it's very humid and you're walking a lot of steps.

After today, I'm looking forward to my Outlying Temples tour tomorrow.

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